Thomas Morstead started with a few warm-up punts. Once he reached full strength, Derrick Strozier was impressed.

"It's crazy to see how much power comes out of the man's leg," said the undrafted rookie from Tulane University.

Learning to properly judge and field an NFL punt will challenge whomever the New Orleans Saints put back there once games begin this season. The primary punt return candidates for the Saints collectively have returned two NFL punts in a regular-season game, and those were by Travaris Cadet, one in the last two seasons each.

Although many figure rookie first-round pick Brandin Cooks the favorite to be the primary punt returner after he finishes class work at Oregon State and arrives for OTAs next week, the Saints have used Strozier, Kenny Stills and Charles Hawkins in the rotation to catch punts by Morstead during offseason practices.

Cadet also is in the mix. He joined them to catch punts off the JUGS machine after mandatory minicamp practice Tuesday (June 10).

"This time of year we're just trying to see where we're at with personnel," special teams coordinator Greg McMahon said. "We've got a lot of guys repping, and we'll look to pare that down once we get to training camp and see where we're at. It's like I told them, anybody who's caught punts ... any of you guys who's done it in college, we're going to evaluate you and see where we're at when we get to training camp."

Darren Sproles had 81 of the Saints' 84 punt returns during his three seasons with the team, before an off-season trade in March sent him to the Philadelphia Eagles. He scored a touchdown on a punt return during his first season with the Saints, in 2011, and none since. His punt return average dropped from 10.1 in 2011, to 8.0 in 2012 and 6.7 in 2013.

McMahon said the punt return game needs improvement in 2014.

"If you look at our units from a year ago, that was the one unit that we actually need to be better in," McMahon said. "Certainly we're in the process of evaluating who our returners will be.

"We like these guys. We like Cadet, certainly we drafted Cooks in the first round, and we've got some guys that we're going to continue to evaluate."

Strozier said catching punts by Morstead that hang in the air longer than the college punts he fielded "makes it a lot easier because you get a little more time to judge the ball." He said he first caught punts by Morstead as the punter warmed up his leg, and adjusted to the gradual increase in distance and hang time.

"It just amazes me how far he can punt the ball because he's lining up way at the other end of the field and I'm in the end zone and he's punting it past me," Strozier said.

Strozier returned 28 punts for Tulane during his sophomore and junior seasons. Cadet returned 50 in his three seasons with Appalachian State and Stills eight before his final season for Oklahoma. Hawkins, from Southern, returned primarily kickoffs. None returned a punt for a touchdown.

During practice Tuesday, Hawkins fumbled one punt but the others fielded theirs cleanly.

While Cooks certainly will certainly have chances to return punts once he arrives, the Saints will need a couple options at that position in case of injury.

"We just got to get in the preseason games and see how we do," McMahon said. "That will be an ongoing process."